A for lease flier listing the North Park property occupied by Toronado for more than a decade has been circulating online for the past 24 hours causing a stir and we have confirmed that the San Diego craft beer pioneer will end its nearly 12 year run in the very near future.
Opened in May 2008 by Ian Black and Rebecca Kay as a southern offshoot of the original craft beer institution of the same name in San Francisco, Toronado has been a local destination amongst beer aficionados since before craft was cool. Last spring, displaced Anthem Vegan found a new home inside Toronado, where the San Diego plant-based eatery launched a condensed menu of vegan comfort food dishes. Although Anthem ended its run by October 2019 and Toronado returned to an omnivore menu, many speculate that the switch to a vegan kitchen was damaging for business, as well as the proliferation of craft brewery tasting rooms in the surrounding area of North Park.
There is no exact date set for Toronado's closure, but it is expected to occur before the beginning of March 2020. The bar aims to stay open through mid-February for its annual Pliny The Younger beer release and will also be hosting a "garage sale" to get rid of various wares. We reached out to ownership for comment but did not receive a substantive response by the time of publishing. The space is currently listed exclusively by real estate broker Paul Sloman (see below).
